Supreme Court union decision in Ill. has implications in Mo.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling regarding unions in Illinois is being considered a victory for Missourians seeking right-to-work legislation in the Show-Me State.

This week, the federal court by a 5-4 vote determined in-home care workers paid by the state of Illinois are not full-fledged government employees and, therefore, not compelled to pay union dues.

The case, Harris v. Quinn, gathered national attention because it questioned the ability of unions to collect dues from public sector workers, according to the Chicago Tribune. A Chicago chapter of the Service Employees International Union organized the state’s in-home care workers and for years had been pushing for higher wages, the Tribune reports. The efforts resulted in a lawsuit by the National Right to Work Foundation, which accused the state and union of conspiring to relabel private care providers so SEIU Healthcare could collect union fees.

Missouri Rep. Eric Burlsion, R-Springfield, who has unsuccessfully sponsored right-to-work legislation in the Show-Me State, kept a close eye on the court decision.

“I'm encouraged to see the Supreme Court ruling in favor of worker freedom today,” he said in a statement. “It's clear that union bosses have accumulated too much power when they feel comfortable arguing before the Supreme Court for the right to take money from mothers providing medical care for their own children. We need to extend legal protections against this type of behavior to all Missourians by implementing right to work."

Burlison has said he expects the Missouri legislature to revisit the right-to-work issue during the 2015 legislative session.

The National Right to Work Foundation also lauded the ruling.

SEIU Healthcare claims 3,000 members and more than a quarter of those members are in-home care workers from Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kansas, the Tribune reports. Each year, in-home care workers in Illinois pay the union more than $3.6 million in dues, according to court documents.

Read more from the Chicago Tribune.